Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray open second round play Wednesday at the Paris Tennis Masters, the final stop on the regular 2012 ATP calender. Djokovic, the top seed who has already locked up the year-end No. 1 for the second season, faces big serving American Sam Querrey.

“It was very difficult to follow up after 2011 and to expect, well, from myself to repeat what I’ve done in that season,” Djokovic said. “But winning one Grand Slam this year, and five titles so far and being very consistent with my results helped me to be in this position right now.

“I’m very proud of the achievements. It was a very good year for me, but it’s not over,” he added. “There are two more very important tournaments to come: indoors here in Paris Bercy, and then London next week. I just want to try to focus on those tournaments [and end] the year in the best possible way.”

Djokovic, the 2009 champion, has won his last 10 matches and 16 of 17, losing only to Murray in the US Open final.

Murray, who’s had the best second half of the season among the big names, faces French veteran Paul-Henri Mathieu, a winner today over a Spanish qualifier.

London hopefuls John Isner, Milos Raonic, Nicolas Almagro, Richard Gasquet and Janko Tipsarevic are also in action, as are David Ferrer and Juan Martin Del Potro on a busy day three in Paris.

On Tuesday,former champions Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were both victors. Tsonga advanced in a third set breaker over countryman Julien Benneteau.

“There was a lot of tension, a lot of intensity, a very complicated first round for me,” said Tsonga, the 2008 champ. “I fought until the end. I hung in there, and I’m happy for the way I pulled it out because it was not easy.”

Tsonga is now just one match win from securing a London berth.

Kei Nishikori, Stanislas Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov were also winners. Marin Cilic’s season and London dreams crashed down as the Croat fell to the 6-foot-8 Jerzy Janowicz.

I can remember at the start of the year djoko said, ” i dare to dream” on repeating his feat this year. Couldn’t quite make the dream come true . But the year end no. 1 title should be enough to make him happy :)

Yes, very nice for him, but i think he should be grateful to Roger for withdrawing from Paris, that has helped him along the way to achieving the Nol 1 spot again. Let’s not forget guys that Roger has finished Year-end No. 1 4 times!!!! Lets see Novak beat this!!!

I’m watching it. Certainly is not fast. Andersen is similar to Raonic, Isner et al – when he’s on he can trouble anyone. However, so so return game and just isn’t consistent enough. Fun match. Gasquet is always a pleasure to watch, when his game is clicking.

Thanks Giles. Yeah I knew about his dad, and that Nole flew back to Serbia to see him in the hospital, which was why he canceled his live stream. He must be feeling it. He sure dropped a few levels in the second half of this match. Looks like he’ll be going out early here at this rate.

Too bad for Nole, sigh. :( He fought, but starting in the second set, he wasn’t hitting nearly as many winners and Sam upped his level too. Good win for Sam. I’ve always liked him: battle of the big servers next: Sam and Milos – or does Milos have another match first?

skeezer, This is only his second loss before the semifinals in any event he’s played in all year. Not sure if you read the article Giles posted, but Nole’s dad is very ill, in Emergency, so maybe that is in the back of his mind, plus he was not feeling great himself (stomach flu) and considered pulling out. I think he came out and played excellent trying to get through quickly, but his energy faded and Sam also upped his level and won it. In the end, Nole couldn’t find it in him, and Sam’s aces held off all those break back points in the 3rd. Nole was fighting, but today he lost. It happens!

When ATP “confirmed” that Djokovic will be the number one ranked player of the year, that was because Federer withdrew from Paris. Had he not withdrawn, Roger may have had the slimmest of chances to be number one. That would have needed a combination of factors for him to do so. I am sure somebody here would be able to come up with the computation if it is at all possible.

wow Congrats to Sam Querry,i dint see that one coming,suffering a 1st set bagel,then coming back like that to take the match true grit,i only saw the ending as i was at work,so sorry to hear about Noles dad,and i wish him and the family all the best,probably the stress got to Nole and his mind wasnt fully on the game,add to that he didnt feel too well either,Noles had a rather tough year he loosing his grandad,yet still played on both occasions shows real strength of charater,well done Nole.

Noooooo, Roger mighta still been able to hold on to #1 if he had played Paris. Slim, slim, slim chance but NOOOOOOO!! Then again, Novak probably would have played differently if the #1 ranking were still on the line. Oh well… looking forward to the YEC, now. Paris could be a good chance for Murray to gain a lot of ranking points.

That hug from Llodra’s little boy adds a lot more to the joy of winning. Kids do make the world a happier place. I remember Roger’s twins cheering for their dad when he won Wimbledon. I love looking at happy kids.

I think Federer made the right choice, regardless of Djokovic’s performance. After the week is out and their points drop off, the rankings will look like this:

1. N. Djokovic: 11,790
2. R. Federer: 11,315

So, that’s a 475-point spread with Federer defending another 1,500 at the WTF and Djokovic 200. Given that, the rest for Federer this week seems important since he can’t shrink that gap in London. Djokovic will get some rest, too, though who knows if he’ll head back to Serbia to see his dad before the WTF.

While we won’t know how the chips land until after the WTF, if Federer keeps the distance between him and Djokovic relatively close (which he can do by repeating in London), then he puts himself again in good shape to make a move in Australia, where Djokovic is defending the title (2,000 points) and Federer a SF appearance (720 points).

Tough day for Djokovic, but he looked mentally rattled from the later stages of the second set onwards. Props to Querrey for keeping it together and fighting on his own service games to hold onto the break in the third.

This was simply a case of Djokovic losing on indoor hardcourts, just as he has been losing in the past three seasons. Novak’s second round loss at Paris indoors supports what I had said:
(a) Djokovic’s worst surface is indoor hardcourts [Novak's winning percentage on indoor hardcourts is about 71.8%, which is significantly worse than on outdoor hardcourts 85.2%, grass 77.0%, and clay 76.7%].
(b) the Paris Masters is Djokovic’s worst Masters tournament (his career winning percentage is just 65%, 11-6)
(c) Djokovic’s World Tour Finals career winning percentage is even worse at 50% (9-9).
(d) On indoor hardcourts, Djokovic is vulnerable to more players. Suprrisingly, Djokovic was vulnerable even to Querrey, whose career indoor 53% puts him at only No. 43 among active players on indoor hardcourts. As well, Djokovic is vulnerable to losses in conditions he is expected to win (this is Djokovic’s first loss this year after winning the first set as well as to player outside the top 20). His matchpoint-saving luck does not work as well in this situation.

Djokovic was so ‘stressed out’, distracted and sick before the match that he was clowning around with a Halloween mask. This possibly pissed off Querrey for 8 games. Halloween joke backfired on Djokovic, as Querrey had the last laugh.http://tinyurl.com/ct36cb4

According to Swiss newspapers, Djokovic’s mother was “laughing in the stands” as Djokovic was initially crushing Querrey. Did anybody see camera shots of his mother? What’s his mother doing in Paris if his father is really so ill in hospital (which all magically happened after Federer announced he forfeited Paris)? Acute Respiratory Syndrome is a bad lung infection (SARS is Severe ARS, a viral infection).

Dave i hear what your saying but no offence sometimes you do whatever you can in times of trouble to try to take your mind off things when my late mother had breast cancer i carried on working,likewise when my late father had kidney failure,it might sound heartless but different people have different ways of dealing with these things,its their way of coping,no harm or foul but is it fair to pass judgement when we ourselves dont know the ins and outs of the situation?

Hopefully we will get a Murray/Delpo final now,i only hope they dont suffer from burn out ahead of the WTFs on Monday,Nole and Roger will be the freshest now going into the WTF,im hoping for an open and well contested week of brilliant tennis,with the whole 8 players at the peak of their game,soo looking forward to it cannot wait.

NO1E has two spare tournaments nex year if he is short with points Basel&Paris, and they will not be played one week after another, including YEC, or they will?
Who cares, Nole is NUMERO UNO second year in a row, that is what matters.
Now, go Andy, all the way!

Djokovic doesn’t need “rest” right now. He hadn’t played in 2.5 weeks – he promptly lost his first match after securing the No. 1 ranking!!

If Fed wins the YEC, the No. 1 ranking will again be up for grabs at the AUS open. If you combine the YEC and the AUS open, Fed is defending 2220 points, Djoke is defending 2200. Neither can afford to trip up, and both have chances to gain points. Paris was where Djoke could have surged ahead – but not anymore.

I can see Murray smiling somewhere in the background!!!

DelPo seems to be bent on totally exhausting himself by the time the YEC comes along. I don’t know if ANYONE has EVER won a tournament in the 4th week of playing 4 consecutive weeks!!

Someone asked the question: had Federer played Paris, would he have had a chance of clinching year end No 1 given Djokovic’s loss today? Of course Roger would have had a chance if he played Paris. Here are the hypothetical scenarios:

Djokovic’s 2R loss (45 points) gives him 11,455 year-to-date race points at end Paris. Federer should actually have 9,555 after Basel (since his 90 points from Doha should be countable as he has four 500 events, including one after US Open)). The difference is 1,900.

If Federer wins Paris (1,000), the difference is 900 after Paris. In this scenario, Federer needs to win 900 points more than Djokovic does at WTF:
-if Djokovic loses all three round robin matches (like he did a few years ago), then Federer needs to win all three round robin matches and his semifinal.
-if Djokovic wins one to two round robin matches (200 – 400), Federer needs to win WTF (dropping one RR match is OK);
-if Djokovic wins three RR matches, Federer needs to win WTF without dropping a match. As long as Djokovic loses at or before the semifinals, Federer can take or tie the No. 1 ranking by winning the WTF.

If Federer is Paris runner up (600), the difference is 1,300 after Paris. In this scenario Federer needs to win the WTF: if he wins all five matches (1500), he finishes No.1. If he loses a RR match, he ties for No.1.

So had Federer not forfeited Paris, he still would have had a chance. However, a few things happened since the middle of Basel that might have affected Federer’s performance at Paris and once he got stuck in a long match with Delpo, he chose to focus on WTF. Federer should have not played Davis Cup and Basel and instead played Beijing, Shanghai, Paris and WTF, just like Djokovic.

*****

alison: They are public celebrities. If these celebrities publicize such information and their supporters are going to use such excuses to downplay their losses, then we have every right to analyse assess and pass judgment. Especially celebrities with publicity and public relations consultants to manage their image and information about them.

In my experience, when there are contradictions that smell fishy, there tends to be more to the story than portrayed.

I’m very sorry to hear about your parents. How people cope with chronic, slow illness tends to be different from acute, sudden-onset illness. Your examples of breast cancer and kidney failure are chronic, long-drawn situations where you can’t be expected to be providing 24 hour care. On the other hand, an acute respiratory syndrome is… acute. If your spouse was suddenly hopitalized for an acute viral respiratory infection such as severe flu or pneumonia, you’re likely going to be in the hospital everyday with him. If you fly off to another country to watch a sporting event you could watch on TV, it’s probably because your spouse is getting better.

*****

the_mind_reels: yeah, I saw it in the Swiss papers but didn’t check other sources. Actually the Swiss papers have been kinder to Djokovic at Paris than they have been to Federer during Basel (due to Wawrinka’s blabbering about Davis Cup and the Basel organizer’s leaks about Federer’s appearance fees… they pay him only about $500,000, which is 1/3 what Nadal got for 2010 Bangkok) which led to a public backlash against Federer while he was playing Basel. Roger wasn’t too happy having to deal with this PR issue in a welfare state that expects Federer to play for free in Basel.

I honestly thought that Nole is going to pull out of Paris after Roger did. Reason why is, he would have probably to play, if he passed Sam, Raonic, Delpo, Tsonga, Murray and to go stright London for YEC. I didn’t see him winnig Paris anyway so it is not big loss, and as far as I remember Paris was never high on the priority list of Roger either, for a reason:)
I see Murray as his main rival for#1 next year and to be honest I would like Andy at #2 sooner rather than later so they don’t have to meet before final. Andy has chance for that even before AO, not a big but if he winns Paris and Roger underperform in London…well here we go.
Even if I don’t like Andy, which I do, I have to be pragmatic as Nole fan. Delp, Tsonga and Andy will not be really rested for London?

@Dave, “the Swiss papers have been kinder to Djokovic at Paris than they have been to Federer during Basel (due to Wawrinka’s blabbering about Davis Cup and the Basel organizer’s leaks about Federer’s appearance fee…”

Are Stan and Fed not friends anymore? If they still are, i would assume stan’s leaking of that info would definitely drive a wedge between them.

@alison, So sorry to read of your losses. it must have been a very difficult period for you to deal with. a lot of people sink themselves into their work to take their minds off their problems not only sickness related, but divorce, and financial problems as well. Hopefully, you’re over that bad patch and can look forward to happier times.

Alok thanks it was,but it was a long time ago now,my mother was too young,but my father had led a full life so no complaints there,i suffered with depression both times,but i had the love and support of a great husband and family to get me through,my life is really good now im pleased to say thanks.